How long can the media pretend nothing is going on at State Farm? This is an unprecedented downturn! Anyone here in media been silenced or told to only report good news?
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Can see why the Pantagraph won't report with State Farm owning 2 million shares of LEE. Figure they bought them at $30-$45 per share in mid 2000s 60-90 million invested. Today the Farm could buy all 56 million shares for 134 million on current prices of $2.40 per share. Very valid point on why we're not seeing much in the local news.
Lee Enterprises isn't exactly known for their investigative reporting, either. I believe they own the Post in St. Louis -- that paper basically just reprints whatever comes across the wire.
Interesting context. The corporation that owns the Slantagraph is Lee Enterprises.
What is perhaps not well known is that State Farm is a major shareholder of Lee Enterprises.
In fact, according to publicly available information on the Nasdaq website
http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/lee/institutional-holdings
State Farm is the second largest shareholder of LEE.
Individuals will have to make up their own mind whether this is a conflict of interest on the reporting of what seems to be a major local news story. It could also just be that a negative article about State Farm would upset the local advertisers, who want to stay happy about B-N's prospects even as the reality of the "local bubble bursting" begins to suggest all is not well.
That’s because the corporation that owns the Slantagraph has been doing the same thing to their people for a few years now. Tap tap you’re gone! With NO notice. They’re not going to say anything. They still need community support from SF.